INSIGHT Vacations unveiled its 2013/14 Europe brochure to the media yesterday, including 14 new itineraries, which take in the sights of Greece, France, Ireland, Northern Spain and Portugal.

Sheryl Lim, the regional director of Asia, Insight Vacations, told TTG Asia e-Daily that the new itineraries are targeted mainly at Singaporeans and other Asians who do not have the time to plan an extensive tour of the Mediterranean but who want a definitive, unforgettable experience.

According to Lim, as of November, Northern Spain, Central Europe and Eastern Europe are the three most popular regions for Insight Vacation’s Asian clientele. “Many of our Asian clients have visited Western Europe before, and are now keen to explore other parts of Europe,” she said.

John Boulding, CEO & president of Insight Vacations, said: “Owing to the depreciation of the euro against the US dollar, we can now offer travellers savings of up to 25 per cent on last year’s prices.”

The 93 tours on offer, which take a maximum of 40 pax each tour, last between four and 20 days, and cost from just US$155 a day. Travel consultants receive a 10 per cent commission for every booking.

TRAVEL consultants seeking for more updates on Best Western International can turn to the company’s newly launched online education and resource centre, Travel Agent Advantage, at www.bwtravelagentadvantage.com.

The site offers information on Best Western’s 4,000 over properties across the world, the brand’s three types of hotels, as well as key initiatives and programmes that will better equip agencies in their sales.

Interactive online courses are also available, coupled with opportunities to win prizes upon completion.

“As Best Western evolves to engage partners such as travel (consultants) in new and meaningful ways, Travel Agent Advantage is a major initiative for the brand as we further engage and help educate the travel (consultant) community,” said Dorothy Dowling, senior vice president, marketing and sales, Best Western International.

“By providing a portal designed exclusively to meet (consultant) needs, Travel Agent Advantage provides the resources, information and brand education that is so valuable to the success of (consultants) worldwide,” she added.

INDONESIA’S outbound operators are looking forward to the arrival of Japan National Tourism Organization’s (JNTO) Jakarta office, which is set to open in spring 2013, making it the NTO’s third office in South-east Asia after Singapore and Thailand.

Tara Tour managing director, Paulus Sofyan Gazali, said: “Having an office in Jakarta makes it easier for us to communicate with an NTO in developing products. We hope, however, that JNTO will continue cooperating with consultants in the long run and not leave us when the market booms, the way some other NTOs have.”

Bayu Buana Travel Services general manager – leisure, Yunita Widjaja, said: “Indonesians like to see new things and are eager for new experiences. They just need to be made aware of the products. To achieve this, JNTO needs to do consumer awareness promotions and at the same time, create attractive products with travel consultants like us.”

JNTO Indonesia will be a full-fledged office, working in collaboration with outbound operators but also launching B2C activities, such as organising travel fairs in major Indonesian cities, said Motonari Adachi, executive director of JNTO Singapore, which oversees marketing in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and India.

Detailed programmes and strategies are being finalised, including the introduction of Muslim tour programmes, which is also currently in the works for the Malaysian market, he added. Adachi expects Indonesian traffic to Japan to increase by over 50 per cent next year.

JNTO president, Ryoichi Matsuyama, said: “Indonesia is a market with a lot of potential for Japan. We have seen the number of arrivals to Japan increasing, and with Indonesia’s growing middle class, there is a big opportunity to develop the market further.”

XIAMEN Airlines joined SkyTeam as its 19^th member and fourth Chinese carrier yesterday, strengthening the alliance’s position in China.

China’s sixth largest carrier, Xiamen Airlines, is headquartered in coastal Xiamen in Fujian province and contributes three new hubs to SkyTeam – Xiamen, Fuzhou and Hangzhou.

The airline’s current network spans over 50 cities including Macau, Hong Kong and Taipei, as well as cities in South-east and North-east Asia. It also has plans to launch flights to Europe, North America and Australasia by 2014, after the introduction of its Boeing 787.

Michael Wisbrun, SkyTeam’s managing director said: “Greater China remains a priority region for our alliance. Xiamen Airlines will join our members China Southern, China Eastern and China Airlines in developing customer-focused initiatives for the region.”

Xiamen Airlines has already begun rolling out SkyPriority and SkyTeam priority airport services for SkyTeam Elite Plus, First and Business Class passengers worldwide. With immediate effect, Xiamen Airline passengers can earn and redeem miles on services operated by all SkyTeam member airlines, while SkyTeam passengers can also earn and redeem miles when flying on Xiamen Airlines-operated flights.

CEBU Pacific (CEB) is set to launch twice-weekly direct flights from Manila to its second Indonesian destination, Bali, next year.

“CEB will launch its direct service from Manila to Bali on March 16, 2013, just in time for peak summer travel in the Philippines,” said CEB vice president for marketing and distribution, Candice Iyog.

CEB currently also operates a four-times-weekly service to Jakarta.

The service will run every Tuesday and Saturday, departing Manila at 04.00 and arriving in Denpasar at 07.50. On the return leg, the flight will leave Denpasar at 08.35 and touch down in Manila at 12.25.

The carrier is holding an introductory sale, with tickets from Manila to Bali going for 888 pesos (US$21.60) for the travel period of March 16-June 30, 2013.

The offer is valid from November 20-23, or until all seats are sold, after which lowest year-round fares for Bali start at 3,499 pesos. CEB says this is up to 38 per cent lower than other airlines.

CEBU Pacific (CEB) is set to launch twice-weekly direct flights from Manila to its second Indonesian destination, Bali, next year.

“CEB will launch its direct service from Manila to Bali on March 16, 2013, just in time for peak summer travel in the Philippines,” said CEB vice president for marketing and distribution, Candice Iyog.

CEB currently also operates a four-times-weekly service to Jakarta.

The service will run every Tuesday and Saturday, departing Manila at 04.00 and arriving in Denpasar at 07.50. On the return leg, the flight will leave Denpasar at 08.35 and touch down in Manila at 12.25.

The carrier is holding an introductory sale, with tickets from Manila to Bali going for 888 pesos (US$21.60) for the travel period of March 16-June 30, 2013.

The offer is valid from November 20-23, or until all seats are sold, after which lowest year-round fares for Bali start at 3,499 pesos. CEB says this is up to 38 per cent lower than other airlines.

TO SCORE a bigger share of Indian airspace, Air India has ramped up four-times-daily services to non-stop hourly flights between New Delhi and Mumbai, from 06.00 to 23.00 every day via Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft.

The airline ran a short promotion over the last three days, offering discounted fares for flights between January 16, 2013 and March 31, 2013.

The low ticket prices are likely to boost air travel in the lean first quarter, said travel consultants.

Anil Punjabi, chairman-east, Travel Agents Federation of India, said: “(The initiative) augurs well for connectivity between key destinations. Special discounted fares will increase travel, and hourly flights between Mumbai and New Delhi is the icing on the cake.”

In a separate development, Air India also has plans to reconfigure five or more Boeing B777s to an all-economy configuration and use them on routes linking India and Gulf cities, such as Mumbai and New Delhi to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Jeddah, in order to earn greater revenue.

Sanjay Maniar, director, Travelaid, said: “All-economy flights to the Gulf are a great idea to snatch business from international carriers flying the same routes to India.”

THE Sri Lanka Army recently debuted its new brand, Laya – which means ‘tranquility’ in Sanskrit – and announced three resorts bearing the name.

The 35-room Wadduwa Holiday Resort on the south coast has been rebranded Laya Beach and the 64-chalet Kukuleganga Holiday Resort in the south-east as Laya Leisure, while a new jungle-cum-beach resort at Yala, near southern Hambantota, will soon open as Laya Safari, according to Sri Lanka Army spokesman Ruwan Wanigasooriya.

Laya Safari is still under construction by the army’s Engineer Service Regiment, but will comprise 20 luxury cabanas when completed.

All three resorts will feature function halls, swimming pools, sports facilities and restaurants.

Wanigasooriya said while Laya Beach will be positioned as a three-star, the other two properties have yet to be classified. The resorts are manned by army officers and opened to local and foreign tourists.

The army has plans for two more hotels at Pasikuda and Nilaweli on the east coast, said Sri Lanka Army commander Jagath Jayasuriya, who presided over the launch event in Colombo on November 8.

Jayasuriya said the army felt obliged to align its resources in the leisure sector to contribute towards Sri Lanka’s tourism and post-conflict development.

Since Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict ended in May 2009, its armed forces have ventured into tourism through hotels (army), domestic air taxi services (air force), and dolphin and whale watching (navy). The army and air force also run commercial travel consultancy offices for outbound travel.

TRAVEL consultants in China are anticipating the increase in competition for airfare distribution, while GDSs are gearing up for a share of the market.

Effective October 1, foreign airlines will be able to use GDSs for fare distribution for the first time. However, the regulation is currently not applicable to domestic airlines. All airlines with domestic and international bookings in and out of China currently have to operate via TravelSky.

“We are still considering which GDS to use, but I think (the use of foreign GDS) is going to slowly increase and will force TravelSky to be more competitive,” said Hong Kong Four Seas Travel, general manager – Greater China business travel, Jonathan Kao, who is based in Shanghai.

Creamy Chen, general manager, Century Holiday International Travel Service Guangzhou, said: “From a consumer’s point of view, this new policy means more choice of airlines and transparent pricing.” She added that her company had not been approached by any foreign GDSs yet.

Amadeus China managing director, Bart Tompkins, said the GDS was assisting airlines in sending in individual nominations for their travel agency partners.

He added: “We are targeting all levels of travel consultants in key cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as growing second-tier cities.”

Tompkins expects actual bookings to start by the second half of next year.

However, Brett Henry, vice-president, commercial and marketing, Abacus International, pointed out that kinks remained. “One of the limitations is that all bookings by Chinese agencies via a foreign GDS are still subject to the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s approval,” he said.

“The deregulation also only applies to flights on international carriers, which means that local flight ticketing is still not open to foreign GDSs, which may ultimately lose out on the biggest chunk of the travel industry, with 80 per cent of air seats (belonging to) domestic flights.”